Athletics (Brawn)

Your group’s characters lead dramatic lives filled with constant physical feats. Sometimes they’ll be fighting an opponent with a gun, but just as often they’ll be climbing mountains, swimming across raging rivers, and leaping across chasms.
The Athletics skill determines how well characters perform these actions. It serves as a measure of your character’s overall fitness and physical conditioning. Those who actively engage in a regimen of physical training, such as field infantry or scouts, are the most likely to have a high rank in Athletics.
Your character should use this skill if…
• Your character attempts to climb up or down a structure, particularly when the climb may be tricky or the drop to the bottom is significant.
• Your character tries to swim in difficult conditions. High winds, waves, tides, and currents could all contribute to making swimming difficult enough to require an Athletics check.
• Your character tries to jump, either vertically or horizontally. Leaping across a deep chasm or trying to jump up and grab a fire escape to get away from an angry dog are both situations when your character needs to make an Athletics check.
• Your character attempts to run for an extended time.
Your character should not use this skill if…
• Your character attempts an activity without any chances of failure. If your character swims on a calm day in a shallow pond, goes for an early morning jog, or jumps over a small log, they don’t need to bother making a check.
• Your character attempts a physical activity that relies more on hand-eye coordination and general agility than straight strength. Engaging in parkour and freerunning, swinging on a rope and rappelling down a surface, and most forms of gymnastics are activities better represented by the Coordination skill.